When you look at the top of the leaderboard for the Mizuho Americas Open, the first three names you’ll see are all ranked in the top 20 in the Rolex Rankings, including the top two players in the world, Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul.
Thitikul currently holds the lead at -14, ahead of world No. 16 Celine Boutier by one stroke and Korda by two. As has been the case for much of the week, Thitikul’s play Saturday wasn’t perfect, but for the most part, her talent was on full display. Thitikul had nine birdies to go along with a double bogey on the way to a 65 score. She only hit nine fairways and 13 greens, but her exceptional putting saved her. Thitikul had just 25 putts and almost every single one had a chance.
So far this week, Boutier has had a similar trajectory to Thitikul, with excellent rounds on Thursday and Saturday, with a mediocre one on Friday. Both players could be running away with this event with even a slightly above average second round. Boutier was playing well all Saturday, but really vaulted up the leaderboard with birdies on 15, 16 and 17. She shot -6 for the round and hit 12 fairways and 14 greens.
Defending champion Nelly Korda has had a bit of a different journey this week, shooting -4 every day. Korda missed some opportunities down the stretch thanks to inaccurate shots on the par 5 13 and short par 4 16, but still rallied for a solid day. Korda’s putter in particular looks very solid, which is bad news for the rest of the tour.
Of course, these three aren’t the only stars in contention. Andrea Lee, who has been a part of the last two Solheim Cup teams, is also at -12. Yealimi Noh, who is off to a terrific start in 2025 is three back at -11, and Carlota Ciganda is at -10.
The final round of the Mizuho Americas Open airs on CBS at 1:00 PM eastern and streams starting at noon on NBCSports.
